It’s a question that’s asked of every generation, and every child. Parents worry that their children are becoming too aware of adult themes, exposed to too much violence, sex, drug use and more. It’s always a tricky question to answer, though, as every child is different and exposed to a variety of stimuli and experiences, let alone will also process all this information differently too. But in this technology age, are children growing up too quickly having access to literally everything within a few clicks?
Way Too Easy to Grow Up
Every child in all generations want to grow up, it’s just a way of life almost. You feel like an outsider not getting jokes or innuendos, you can’t stay up late like adults or go out to certain places, like bars. You’re constantly told by adults that you can’t do certain things until “You’re older” or more mature, and that can sometimes make children want to rush their maturity even more. Adding in the factors of social media and answers to many adult questions at your fingertips, and children can learn a lot of things that they maybe should be holding off on.
Gone are the days of wondering; children can simply ask any question they may have about drugs or sex on Google and instantly have answers, whether that’s a good thing or not is yet to be decided. And with social media portraying nothing short of pure perfection for every person posting selfies, children decide they must be a perfect looking adult as soon as possible. No matter the age of the poster, there are no flaws or imperfections seen for a child to realize that they don’t need to achieve this level of perfection on their own, at 10 years of age. It also doesn’t help that companies are catering to the fact that children are growing up too fast by designing products specifically for younger generations. Vaping got quite a bad reputation a few years ago for seemingly advertising to the teen and tween crowd, as well as offering a variety of fruity and candy-inspired flavors for their nicotine vaping systems. Clothing companies have continually skimped on the length of clothing, especially for girls, and this trend isn’t going away anytime soon. There is an increase in body butters and oils specifically catering to 10- and 12-year-olds, but with names like Follow Me Boy, they can be quite controversial.
Connecting with Your Tween
If reading this is giving you anxiety, don’t worry. The oversaturation of maturity and growing up in today’s world is tempting, along with peer pressure, for any child to want to do anything that may make them more mature. But one theme that holds true is that parents who are more involved in their children’s lives tend to give them the stability they need. If children are getting the support and answers they need from their parents, they are less likely to get involved in negative situations or actions.
Katie Kyzivat